Summary: The 2nd International Odissi Festival was organised by IPAP between August 28 - 31, 2003, in Washington D.C. Dedicated to the memory of Guru Pankaj Charan Das, who passed away in June 2003, it brought together Odissi dancers and scholars from all over the world.

Ratikant Mohapatra is a dancer, percussionist, teacher, choregrapher and archivist of Odissi. Born into the family of Guru Kelu Charan Mohapatra & Laxmipriya Mohapatra was indeed an advantage for Ratikant. Imbibing the artistic and creative talents of both Guruji & Guruma as the parents of Ratikant were addressed, he improvised on his own natural talents and inclination towards dance and music at an early age. Tutored by the maestro in the art of Odissi & mardala Ratikant did not spare any efforts to emerge as a leading male dancer by the time he was in his early twenties.

He is the director of Srjan Odissi Nrityabasa in Bhubaneswar. Apart from his performance career, he has also ventured into cinema. He has choreographed Odissi dance sequences for an Indo–Chinese film “The Desire” and has guided the performance of noted film stars Jayaprada and Shilpa Shetty in it.

Here, he performs Hanuman Vandana. The text is attributed to the poet Vithaldas.